Joseph Gabriel Goldberg is the villain protagonist of You, a series of thriller novels by Caroline Kepnes. In the television adaptation of the same name, he is portrayed by Penn Badgley.
Joe is a serial killer from New York City who develops extreme obsessions with various women that he dates, leading him to stalk and invade their private lives. As the series progresses, he travels to Los Angeles and London, England, assuming new identities to hide from law enforcement. Despite attempts to suppress his psychopathic tendencies, his relationships continue to culminate in murder, and he habitually kills those who pose a threat to himself and the people close to him.
Badgley's portrayal of Joe has garnered critical acclaim. Praise has been directed towards his ability to portray Joe as both sympathetic and charismatic in contrast to the character's otherwise sinister and violent tendencies. For his portrayal, Badgley was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor in a Streaming Television Series at the 45th Saturn Awards.
Television series Background Joe was born on September 19, 1988, to Sandy Goldberg and Raphael Passero. Joe and Sandy were continually abused by Raphael, and, seeking to protect his mother, Joe shoots and kills him. Sandy later gives Joe up to Child Protection Services, and he is sent to a group home.
Joe would later be adopted by Ivan Mooney (Mark Blum), a former Soviet prison guard who raised him in a strict, abusive manner. After Joe kills a music executive with whom his ex-girlfriend, Candace Stone (Ambyr Childers), was having an affair, Mooney helps Joe get away with it. After Candace breaks up with Joe, he takes her into the woods and believes to have killed her after striking her with a rock.
Several years later, Ivan would suffer a stroke, leading to Joe becoming the manager of Mooney's. He develops a close relationship with Paco (Luca Padovan), the son of his next-door neighbor, Claudia (Victoria Cartagena), a drug addict who is in an abusive relationship with Ron Baker (Daniel Cosgrove), an ex-parole officer who recognizes Joe's psychopathy.
Season 1
Joe begins stalking MFA student Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail). He steals her phone and learns of Benji Ashby, an on-again, off-again boyfriend, whom he kidnaps and keeps in a plexiglass cage that houses Mooney's rarest books. After Benji shares a video of his involvement in an accidental death during a frat hazing incident, Joe uses his peanut allergy to kill him.
Beck introduces Joe to her wealthy best friend Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell), who disapproves of him. While helping her shop, Beck confides in Joe about her deceased father. Afterward, Joe burns Benji's remains in the woods. Later that night, Beck invites Joe to her apartment, and the two have sex. Using Beck's old phone, he discovers that Beck is texting an anonymous man referred to as "The Captain," and Joe leaves abruptly.
Joe discovers that The Captain is her father, Edward Beck (Michael Park). Beck tells Joe that her father is a former drug addict whom she's been estranged from since he became sober. Joe and Beck begin dating, but soon argue about Peach sabotaging Beck's career. Peach calls Beck during a suicide attempt, which Joe doubts the sincerity of. Joe steals Peach's laptop and discovers that she has been infatuated with Beck for years. Joe follows Peach in Central Park and attempts to kill her with a rock, but she survives. Later, Joe is brutally beaten by Ron, who Paco drugged in an attempt to kill him.
Joe secretly follows Beck and Peach to her family estate and witnesses Peach attempt to initiate a threesome with Beck and Raj (Gerrard Lobo), a college friend. The next morning, he watches Peach and Beck argue about the previous night. After Beck storms out, he is caught by Peach, who holds him at gunpoint. After a short struggle, he takes the gun and shoots Peach, framing it as a suicide. A few weeks later, Joe begins seeing therapist Dr. Nicky (John Stamos), using aliases for himself and Beck to talk about their relationship. Suspicious that Beck is cheating with Nicky, he follows her but is caught by her. Joe realizes that Beck is better off without him, and they break up.
Joe begins dating Karen, a friend of Claudia, as Beck's writing career blossoms. Despite their attempts to move on from each other, they rekindle their relationship. Joe breaks up with Karen and gets back with Beck. After investigating rumors of Candace's sudden disappearance, Beck confronts Joe about her. Joe explains that she cheated on him and has since moved to Europe, which satisfies her.
Joe discovers that Beck did have an affair with Dr. Nicky, but forgives her. After discovering that Beck found his cache of evidence, Joe knocks her out and locks her in the glass cage. While imprisoned, Beck writes a book framing Dr. Nicky. Meanwhile, Joe kills Ron to protect Paco and Claudia. Beck manages to convince Joe to let her leave before stabbing him. After Beck fails to convince Paco to unlock the basement door, she is caught and killed by Joe. Four months later, Beck's posthumous memoir has become a hit, and Paco and Claudia leave for California. Suddenly, Candace walks in, stunning Joe.
Season 2
Joe escapes Candace and moves to Los Angeles. He steals the identity of Will Bettelheim (Robin Lord Taylor), a tech-savvy conspiracy theorist, and keeps him in the glass cage inside a storage unit. Joe develops an obsession with Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), the daughter of the wealthy Ray (Michael Reilly Burke) and Dottie Quinn (Saffron Burrows), who co-own the upscale grocery store Anavrin. He secures an apartment and befriends the building manager, Delilah Alves (Carmela Zumbado), and her teenage sister, Ellie (Jenna Ortega). He gets a job at Anavrin, which Love co-manages alongside her brother Forty Quinn (James Scully). Joe and Love spend a night out together, after which Love reveals she is widowed.
Joe kills Jasper Krenn (Steven W. Bailey), a man Will owed money to, and disposes of the body using butcher tools at Anavrin. Joe and Love agree to only be friends but begin a sexual relationship, which is challenged by Forty's emotional dependency. Joe learns that Delilah is a victim of rape by Henderson (Chris D'Elia), a famous comedian. He discovers that Ellie has developed a professional relationship with him, and he warns her to stay away from him. With Will's help, Joe discovers that Henderson has a sex dungeon and finds a box containing Polaroids of Henderson's victims, including Delilah. After learning that the photos are inadmissible, Joe attempts to elicit a video confession. The plan goes awry, and Joe accidentally kills him. Convinced that Will is trustworthy due to his help with Henderson, he frees him from the cage.
Joe discovers that Forty is dating a woman named Amy Adam, who turns out to be Candace. Love informs Joe that Forty is a victim of sexual assault by an au pair when he was a young boy, and Joe tells her about his own childhood. Candace tells Joe that Forty is developing a screenplay adapting Beck's memoir. After investigating Candace, Joe learns that she told Love the truth about his past, but he explains to Love that he left New York to escape her lies. Love accepts his explanation but breaks up with him.
Joe and Delilah hook up publicly but are arrested for lewd conduct by Delilah's ex-fling, Officer David Fincher (David Vasquez). Meanwhile, Love begins a relationship with Milo Warrington (Andrew Creer), her late husband's best friend. After being released, Joe finds out that Delilah has discovered the cage and locks her inside. Before he can return, Forty sets up a self-abduction scheme to get Joe and Ellie's help with the script. Joe and Forty trip on LSD and go on a drug-fueled escapade. Joe and Love reconcile, and Love convinces him to stay in Los Angeles. Forty correctly infers that Beck's ex-boyfriend is the true culprit and confesses to Joe that he killed the au pair who assaulted him as a child.
The next day, Joe finds Delilah dead but cannot remember if he killed her. He attempts to remember the previous night's events, but is discovered with Delilah's body by Candace. She locks him in the cage and calls Love. Joe confesses his crimes to Love, who kills Candace to prevent her from calling the police. Love reveals to Joe that she was responsible for killing the au pair and that she killed Delilah to protect him. She informs Joe of her plan to clean up Delilah and Henderson's murders. Disturbed, Joe prepares to kill her before she reveals that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Forty investigates Beck's murder and discovers the truth after interviewing Dr. Nicky, who recognizes a photo of Joe. He returns to save Love, and while holding Joe at gunpoint, Forty is killed by Officer Fincher.
Several months later, Joe and Love move to the Madre Linda suburb in Northern California. While in the backyard, he sees his neighbor and begins another obsession.
Season 3
Joe struggles to balance his obsession with Natalie Engler (Michaela McManus), his marriage to Love, and their son, Henry. Love deduces that Joe is infatuated with Natalie and kills her in the basement of her bakery, where the glass cage is now kept. Natalie's husband, Matthew Engler (Scott Speedman), conducts his own investigation.
Joe and Love kidnap Gil Brigham (Mackenzie Astin), a Madre Linda resident and anti-vaxxer, who infected Henry with measles. They attempt to blackmail Gil using a sexual assault that his son committed, but Gil commits suicide out of guilt, which Joe and Love use to frame him for Natalie's murder. Joe begins restoring rare books at a library to sell and help support Ellie. There, he befriends Marienne (Tati Gabrielle), the librarian whom he becomes obsessed with.
Joe goes on a retreat with Cary Conrad (Travis Van Winkle), the husband of Sherry (Shalita Grant), on the behest of his and Love's therapist. Joe discovers that Love has gotten close with Theo (Dylan Arnold), the teenage son of Matthew. Joe begins stalking Marienne and discovers that she is in a custody battle with Ryan Goodwin (Scott Michael Foster), a news reporter and abusive ex-boyfriend. He helps Marienne recover books during a sprinkler malfunction at the library, and the two kiss. Later, he and Love agree to keep Theo close as a source of information on Matthew's investigation.
Dottie Quinn confides to Joe that Love may have killed her first husband, James (Daniel Durant). Joe testifies at Marienne's custody hearing, but learns that Ryan released explicit images of her to sabotage her case. Joe and Love attempt swinging with Cary and Sherry at their request, which causes Love to have a jealous outburst. The Conrads overhear Love admit to Natalie's death, and after a brief struggle, are captured and locked in the cage by Joe and Love.
Marienne tells Joe that Ryan plans to take their daughter to New Jersey and invites him home, where the two have sex. Joe begins to stalk Ryan again, and Joe kills him. Theo discovers surveillance footage of Joe leaving the bakery with Natalie's body and is bludgeoned by Love.
Love discovers Joe's obsession with Marienne and prepares dinner, planning to poison him using aconite. Love calls Marienne over and reveals to her that Joe killed Ryan. Marienne leaves, and Love prepares to kill Joe. Aware of Love's plan, Joe ingests an antidote and injects her with the aconite. Joe stages her murder as a murder-suicide and blows up their house. Before leaving Los Angeles, Joe leaves Henry in the care of Dante (Ben Mehl) and adopts the identity "Nick Trespidi", leaving for Paris in search of Marienne.
Season 4
Part 1